State party's observations
4.
The State party, by submission of 26 October 1988, concedes that the
Court of Appeal of Jamaica did not issue a written judgement in the case; the
Court confined itself to an oral judgement when refusing Mr, Henry's
application for leave to appeal. By further submission of 26 January 1989,
the State party argues that the communication is inadmissible on the ground of
non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, since the author failed to take action
under the Jamaican Constitution to seek enforcement of his right, under
section 20 of the Constitution, to a fair trial and legal representation. In
this context, it submits that the fact that an appellant has not been afforded
redress by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council does not mean that he
has exhausted domestic remedies, since even after a hearing of a criminal
appeal by the Privy Council, an appellant may still exercise his
constitutional rights to seek redress in the Jamaican courts.
Committee's admissibility considerations and decision
5.1 At its thirty-eighth session, the Committee considered the admissibility
of the communication. It took note of the State party's contention that the
communication was inadmissible because of the author's failure to pursue
constitutional remedies available to him under the Jamaican Constitution. In
the circumstances of the case, the Commiteee found that recourse to the
Constitutional Court under section 25 of the Constitution -was not a remedy
available to the author within the meaning of article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of
the Optional Protocol.
5.2 The Committee noted that part of the author's allegations related to
claims of bias on the part of the trial judge, particularly in respect of the
adequacy or otherwise of the judge's instructions to the jury. The Committee
reiterated that the review by it of specific instructions by the judge to the
jury is beyond the scope of application of article 14 of the Covenant, unless
it can be ascertained that the instructions to the jury were clearly arbitrary
or amounted to a denial of justice, or that the judge manifestly violated his
obligation of impartiality. In the circumstances, the Commiteee found that
the judge's instructions did not suffer from such defects.
5.3 On 15 March 1990, accordingly, the Committee declared the communication
admissible in respect of article 14, paragraphs 3 (b), (d), (e) and 5, of the
Covenant,
State party's objections to the admissibility decision and the Committee's
request for further clarifications
6.1 The State party, in a submission of 6 February 1991, rejects the
Committee's findings on admissibility and challenges the reasoning described
in paragraph 5.1 above. It argues, in particular, that the Committee's
reasoning reflects a misunderstanding of the relevant Jamaican law, especially
the operation of sections 25{1) and (2) of the Jamaican Constitution. The
right to apply for redress under section 25(1), in the terms of the provision
itself, "without prejudice to any other action with respect to the same matter
which is lawfully available." The only limitation is contained in
section 25(2) which, in the State party's opinion, is not applicable in the
case, since the alleged breach of the right to a fair trial was not at issue
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